The habit of drinking coffee every day is getting more and more popular among coffee drinkers, which all the time makes specialists bring up questions about the benefits and harm of coffee to the human body.
Everyone knows that statistics are stubborn things, which “say” that the number of people using coffee as an energy source is approaching the 50% mark globally.
Imagine that soon one in two people on earth will not be able to live without coffee.
Today, the figures are much lower in the world but in the United States, more than half of the population can no longer imagine living without caffeine. It is this substance that is most discussed, because of its positive and negative health effects. The pros and cons of coffee consumption are quite obvious, however, there are still some points that are not clear to people who tend to drink coffee on a regular basis.
Coffee Consumption Facts
According to statistics, people prefer to drink coffee from 2 to 3 times a day. Not a single coffee addict can imagine the morning without a cup of espresso or cappuccino. Indeed, most people who drink coffee, do it mainly in the morning. A large percentage of people also drink coffee during breaks at work, between meetings, and at the end of the workday.
In general, 3 cups of coffee up to 200 ml are considered safe dosage per day. Not everyone, however, sticks to this dosage, which may result in certain health problems and addiction that develops gradually and imperceptibly.
People between 16 and 34 years old are less likely to have health issues because of coffee – most often, excessive caffeine addiction, in their case, leads to sleep disorders and the exhausted nervous system. Interestingly, young people drink coffee less frequently than older people in percentage terms.
The fact is that 50-year-old people drink at least one cup of coffee per day. The percentage of such people is about 70%, which is quite a lot. Younger people tend to drink coffee in large quantities but the percentage is lower. It turns out that not all young people are inclined to drink coffee, in principle, although a total consumption trend increases every year.
Special attention should be paid to students who, according to some studies, drink coffee on a regular basis. People under 16 should not drink coffee at all, although there are a lot of young coffee drinkers. Students increasingly tend to drink coffee to cheer up while studying, and their amounts continue to grow. Today about 45% of students drink coffee all the time.
It is important to understand that young people are subjected to severe mental stress and have to stimulate themselves with caffeine to better perceive information and get more productive in their studies. The same is true for all intellectuals and creative people. It is people of these occupations who are more inclined to start and end their day with coffee.
Statistics show that office employees, teachers, developers, programmers, advertisers, marketers, and engineers drink coffee more than others. It turns out that caffeine is needed more by those who spend energy on brainwork. If a person works physically, he/she does not need caffeine as much as mental labor requires.
Caffeine and Professional Sports
Interestingly, caffeine in professional sports was repeatedly recognized as performance-enhancing drugs (doping) and was almost banned for all athletes. Indeed, caffeine helps achieve more productive results during training and competition.
- Since caffeine affects the nervous system, the athlete feels a burst of energy.
- Plus, fatigue and pain perception is also reduced. In addition, caffeine has a positive effect on psycho-emotional health, which can also benefit athletes under constant extreme loads.
- Research has shown that caffeine, which enters the body with coffee, also improves endurance (up to 15%) and strength (by 20%).
- Fatigue levels, with regular caffeine intake, drop by about 6%. This data may not seem significant but is, in fact, a very important indicator in professional sports.
Ordinary people, who do not subject their bodies to extreme physical activity, as well those who experience extreme mental workloads, also benefit from caffeine.
Caffeine Content in Traditional Coffee
About this much caffeine will be contained in a standard 7 oz cup of coffee. Of course, the amount of caffeine in coffee depends on things like the type, roasting/grinding level, brewing method, as well as the total amount of coffee served.
If you care about your health, you should learn you chosen coffee’s nutritional characteristics before buying and drinking it. Many coffee shops now give their visitors special brochures with detailed information about certain coffee composition elements.
Positive Coffee Effects
Talking about benefits, we should understand that they are only possible if a person does not abuse the drink, but uses it responsibly and quite discreetly. Only in case of moderate consumption of coffee can we talk about health and work efficiency improvements.
According to medical research, a safe daily dose of caffeine is estimated to be about 250 – 300 mg. If you know how much caffeine is in your coffee, you can easily calculate your daily dosage and stick to it.
It is noteworthy that a cup of espresso or regular black coffee may contain about 60-90 mg of caffeine. It turns out that three cups of such coffee are quite safe for health and do not cause serious addiction.
Unfortunately, according to statistics, many people drink from 3 cups of coffee a day, which means that they exceed the permissible safe standards of caffeine consumption. We will talk about the disadvantages of excessive consumption of coffee below. Until then, let’s focus on positive aspects and the right approach to drinking coffee.
The main advantages of regular drinking coffee are as follows:
- Increased mental and physical performance;
- Improved internal state;
- Improved emotional state;
- Increased awareness and better information perception;
- Weight loss (with proper diet);
- Lower diabetes risk;
- Lower heart attack risk.
It is worth noting that coffee has a stimulating effect not only on the nervous but also cardiovascular system. As a result of moderate stimulation of the body with caffeine, the probability of cardiovascular disease occurrence is reduced. This is the case with reasonable use of coffee.
If a person tends to exceed the established safety standards, it increases the probability of hypertension and tachycardia, as well as other heart diseases. This is true if a person regularly exceeds the permitted doses of caffeine for a long period of time.
As for slimming, coffee can have a positive effect, too. In a coffee drink, the calorie content tends to zero. With the right diet and regular consumption of black coffee of up to 3 cups a day, it helps the body to start burning fats more actively. Coffee speeds up metabolic processes in the body, which has quite a positive effect on the burning of excess kilos. It is worth remembering if you want to lose weight with adequate coffee doses.
Negative Coffee Effects
As for the negative factors that occur when drinking coffee, there are quite a lot of them, although they are quite infrequent.
- The main disadvantage of coffee is that it can, quite slowly and quietly, make a person dependent on caffeine doses.
- If the person is already addicted, the person can not feel well without a cup of coffee. Thus, you get an upset mood instead of energy, and fatigue with irritability instead of increased concentration. It all comes down to a person that can no longer be adequate without a cup of coffee.
- Another negative factor when drinking coffee is its toxicity. If a person often drinks cheap coffee of poor quality, it can lead to gastrointestinal tract disorders. For this reason, it is best to avoid cheap coffees and opt for high-quality, premium coffees in smaller quantities.
- There are also people who are very sensitive to caffeine. In such a case, even a small dose of caffeine can cause sleep disorders, especially if you drink coffee in the evening. In addition, people with caffeine addiction often can’t fall asleep. If you drink more than 3 cups of coffee per day, there’s a risk of insomnia.
- Large amounts of caffeine in combination with smoking or drinking alcohol give an even more negative effect on the body and contribute to the rapid development of cardiovascular disease. For this reason, you should not abuse your coffee if you smoke.
- Other negative effects of coffee include anxiety and stress, which may appear in some people who drink coffee even in moderate amounts.
- Coffee can have a strong stimulant effect on a particular category of people, resulting in mild shivering and shaking of hands. The percentage of such people is small but coffee does have such negative property.
- If you drink coffee more than you should, it can also cause dehydration. Coffee has a rather strong diuretic property and can remove large amounts of water from your body. For this reason, strong espresso should always be served with a glass of water.
On the one hand, water allows coffee to be absorbed into the blood more smoothly, while on the other, a glass of water helps to balance the moisture balance in the body. In addition, coffee can be the reason for “washing out” the necessary and important microelements from the body, which we will discuss later.
Pregnancy and Coffee
There are still debates about the benefits or harmful effects of coffee during pregnancy but scientists have come to some obvious facts that suggest that pregnant women should at least reduce their coffee consumption. There are reasons for this, which have some overlap with the above-mentioned negative effects of caffeine on humans.
Coffee can accelerate metabolism and contributes to the fact that both mother and her child may lose weight quite intensively. As a result, the baby may be born underweight, which may have a negative impact on its further growth. A mother may even miscarry if she consumes caffeine uncontrolled.
For this reason, it is especially important to consider caffeine consumption restrictions during pregnancy. Mothers-to-be need to reduce not only the amount of caffeine in their diet but also other rich-in-caffeine products, including tea, chocolate, energy and fizzy drinks, as well as some other products.
The most negative effect of large amounts of coffee is on the musculoskeletal system and teeth. Coffee is believed to help wash out calcium and other elements such as iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and sodium from the human body in the first place. All these elements play a crucial role in the formation of a new organism in the womb, and their washing out can have a serious negative impact on both child’s and mother’s health.
Doctors recommend reducing the consumption of coffee for pregnant women to 1-2 cups of coffee per day. The safe maximum dose of caffeine for pregnant women is considered to be about 200 mg per day. However, it’s best to keep it even lower, not exceeding 100-150 mg. Only then can we talk about safe coffee drinking during pregnancy.
Coffee Consumption Statistics for Men and Women
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Statistics show that men are more inclined to drink coffee in large quantities. It turns out that every second guy can not imagine his day without coffee.
In turn, coffee consumption statistics among women are less extensive – about a third of all women prefer to drink coffee every day. If you consider the average number of cups drunk per day, women drink safe doses of coffee.
Thus, it turns out that the average woman can continue drinking coffee even during pregnancy because she always consumes the minimum amount of caffeine, not exceeding two cups of coffee per day.
Tea vs Coffee
Coffee and tea consumption statistics vary greatly from country to country. While American and European countries tend to consume large amounts of coffee, tea is drunk more frequently in Asian countries like China, Turkey, Russia, and the Arab countries.
It can be said that the world is split into two halves, each of which consumes either coffee or tea.
Leaders in coffee consumption are European countries represented by Finland, Norway, and the Netherlands. Among the most active tea consumers are Uzbekistan, Kenya, and Azerbaijan.
Countries such as the UK, Russia, India, and China also demonstrate a high percentage of people who prefer tea over coffee.
Tea Leading Countries
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In terms of caffeine content, black tea is significantly inferior to coffee. 300 ml of tea contain approximately 30 mg of caffeine. It turns out that one espresso can contain double or even triple the caffeine content of one large cup of tea. Of course, this figure can be higher depending on the strength of the drink.
Green tea is generally considered more useful because it contains slightly less caffeine and more useful antioxidants that kill free radicals and reduce the likelihood of malignant growth. In any case, teas are less dangerous in terms of addiction, dependence, and caffeine content.
For weight loss, it is better to drink either black coffee or green tea. Coffee promotes accelerated metabolism and diuretic effect. Green tea is healthier and also helps to get rid of excess water in the body. By the way, black coffee and tea may have a negative impact on teeth.
Thus, when regularly drinking black coffee or tea, it is necessary to monitor the pigmentation of teeth. Green tea does not have this drawback.
If you choose tea or coffee for what is more refreshing and invigorating, the absolute champion here is coffee.
- If you need to cheer up or come to your senses, you should drink a cup of strong, preferably black coffee.
- Tea has a softer and weaker invigorating effect, which is barely felt. However, unlike coffee, tea rarely promotes insomnia or sleep problems.
Conclusion
To sum it all up, it should be noted that coffee consumption is safe if a person can adequately control the amount of coffee per day and understand the negative aspects of its abuse. Almost everyone is familiar with coffee consumption benefits because the positive uplifting effect of coffee is felt quite strongly and within a short period of time.
The negative aspects of coffee consumption do not reveal themselves immediately but over a long period of time, with the wrong attitude to the doses of caffeine that enter the body. Coffee can only be drunk with health and productivity benefits if you know acceptable safe doses. If you notice that you have a coffee addiction, you should at least reduce the number of cups per day up to 2 or even 1.
There are decent alternatives to coffee that do not contain such serious doses of caffeine and can diversify the menu of your drinks. It can be decaf or tea. Tea also has caffeine but much lower doses, making it a great substitute for coffee. Nothing stops you from having a cup of coffee in the middle of your working day and drinking tea the rest of the time if you feel like it.
FAQ
The answer to this question is unlikely to be unambiguous, as it is important to consider the existing diseases in the person and the volumes of coffee/tea consumption in the first place. People without any health problems can safely drink 3-4 cups of coffee or tea per day. If a person has obvious health problems, especially the heart or vascular system related, coffee is definitely not recommended. It is best to abstain from this drink and give preference to tea.
Moderate consumption of coffee and tea for a healthy person can not pose any danger at all and does not promote disease. Adequate measures are the only guarantee for the safe consumption of coffee and tea. Without them, drinking strong tea in unlimited amounts can cause tachycardia and other adverse caffeine effects. Green tea is considered to be more beneficial than black tea or coffee, so if you are concerned about your health, you may prefer such tea or choose decaf.
To avoid coffee addiction, a person needs to limit caffeine intake. If you feel like you need a few cups of coffee per day, you might want to give up drinking coca-cola and other products that may contain caffeine. If you do not exceed 3 cups of coffee per day, then there’s no need to talk about serious coffee dependence. If you drink more than 3 cups of coffee per day, especially strong drip coffee, you may get a strong psychological addiction, which will eventually lead to feeling unwell without drinking at least one cup of coffee. Only moderate consumption of coffee is completely safe.
If a person is completely healthy and drinks even more than 3 cups of coffee a day, the probability of a heart attack is very low. This is different when a person has heart disease. In this case, any dose of coffee can have a very negative impact on health. For this reason, people with heart disease should not drink coffee. Most likely, one cup of loose coffee will not provoke a heart attack but strong coffee, several times a day, may lead to serious consequences.
Scientists have proven that moderate consumption of coffee does not contribute to the development of the cardiovascular disease, so coffee can be safely consumed if you are healthy.
Researchers have found that the body does not really need caffeine in the morning. After waking up, our body produces a special hormone, responsible for vivacity, on its own. When a person wakes up the hormone enters the blood and signals awakening and physical activity, the person doesn’t really need a cup of coffee to feel good. If you can’t wake up without a cup of coffee, there is likely to be either nervous exhaustion or caffeine addiction.
In any case, coffee is most effective to drink in the middle of the working day, when you are a little tired of work, and there is still a fairly long working day ahead of you. In this case, a cup of invigorating coffee will give you more strength and increase endurance and efficiency at work. If you constantly drink coffee only in the morning, by the middle of the day the invigorating coffee effect can end, and you will feel tired or sleepy. Drinking coffee after work late in the evening makes little sense because our body is exhausted and is preparing for sleep. Coffee consumption at night can contribute to insomnia, which will negatively affect the nervous system and your efficiency the next day.
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